The Lioness
by WeaponFanfic
Summary: A field trip for Jim's Wilderness Survival course gets interrupted by XANA. Will the Lyoko warriors have it in them to stop his latest scheme or will they need a helping hand for this mission? Original idea by brave kid. Oneshot fic.
1. The Field Trip

**The Lioness**

_A field trip for Jim's Wilderness Survival course gets interrupted by XANA. Will the Lyoko warriors have it in them to stop his latest scheme or will they need a helping hand for this mission? Original idea by brave kid. Oneshot fic._

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko was created by Tania Palumbo and Thomas Romain. It was produced by Antefilms and then by MoonScoop. It is aired in France by France 3 and in America by Cartoon Network. The author is neither employed by or affiliated with any of the above companies or entities. All characters, locales, and other non-original entities are property of the parties mentioned above. All rights reserved.

* * *

The alarm clock sounded off at 5:30am. For five straight minutes the buzzing filled the room with no end in sight. Finally, Ulrich Stern turned over in his bed and opened one eye. He took a look at the clock and hit the button to make the horrible noise stop. He groaned, knowing that while he might have been able to go sleep in most other days, he had to wake up early this one day. A minute had passed before he was able to open his other eye, finally deciding to rise from his bed. Still groggy, he reluctantly got out of bed and shuffled to the bed of his roommate to wake him up.

"Odd, get up," he mumbled, barely comprehensible for this time of day.

Odd Della Robbia was still sound asleep, his leg and arm dangling from the side of the bed.

"Odd, get up," Ulrich said. He was still mumbling but he was more comprehensible than before.

Odd shifted in his bed, grabbing the pillow that was on his head and embracing it. "Honey, we just did that a few minutes ago. I'm still tired," he said as he continued to sleep.

Ulrich was now more awake than ever. His eyes widened as he shook Odd violently before he would say, or do, other things in his sleep.

Odd woke up startled. "Who? What? I didn't do it."

"C'mon, Odd, get up. We gotta get ready," Ulrich said, wiping away the last remnants of sleep from his eyes.

Odd groaned and covered his head with his pillow. "Ready for what?" he asked, voice muffled by his bedding accessory.

"Y'know, the trip," he yawned out as he began to change and get his gear ready. "Jim's Wilderness Survival field trip." Seeing how his friend was reluctant to get up, Ulrich grabbed Odd by the ankles and yanked him out of bed.

Odd landed on his rump with a deep thump. He groaned again as he stood up and rubbed his backside. "Remind me again why we're doing this?"

"Because we get to spend the weekend camping instead of being stuck here again."

Odd began to get his gear ready as well. "And we are doing this because...?"

"Because Einstein actually liked training with Jim last time, despite the fact that he almost got mauled by a wild boar." Ulrich double checked his stuff before packing it away in his backpack. "And since he thought we benefited from the training before, Jeremie felt that if we went to this trip we'd be even better fighters in Lyoko."

"I guess," Odd said as he finished packing his backpack. "But remind me to kill him for making me wake up so early.

After breakfast was done, the bus that would take the students on the trip had arrived. Jim called out attendance as each student participating in the course lined up single-file beside the vehicle. Despite the fact that it was a course on wilderness survival taught by Jim, a good number of students decided to sign up. While most of the students took the course because it meant a free field trip for them, some of them took it because they really wanted to learn something. Jeremie belonged to the latter group while his friends either belonged to the former or were conned into it by Jeremie. Once attendance had been taken care of, the students placed their backpacks in the side compartment of the bus before taking their seats inside and driving away from Kadic Academy for the weekend.


	2. Get On The Bus

The destination of the trip was going to be a forest in the mountains an hour and a half away from the city. Jim chose this region because of the various types of terrain and plant life that existed here, making it perfect to demonstrate dealing with both a wooded and a rocky surrounding in one trip. While he was excited about the trip and about being able to relive his days of his youth, Jim was not excited about the ride. Like most other students in the bus, he hated long trips. He decided that his only option for now would be to catch a nap before they reach their destination. He was the only other adult on the trip besides the bus driver, but he felt that the children were responsible enough to govern themselves during a long bus ride. With that assurance, he fell asleep.

Odd looked outside of the bus window watching all of the scenery pass by. He wasn't much of a nature fan, preferring the concrete jungle to a real one. However, with his friends in tow, he felt that the weekend could still be enjoyable enough.

Sissi sat by him, watching him watch the view. She shared the same viewpoint that he did and was glad she could just be there with him. "So, why did you go on this trip? I thought you were a big city kid at heart."

Odd continued looking out the window. "Yeah, but Jeremie wanted to go so that made Aelita want to go. Then, suddenly, Yumi and Ulrich wanted to go. I'm going to make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't be doing."

Sissi raised an eyebrow. "You? Are you sure you're talking about the right Odd Della Robbia?"

Odd turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

Sissi frowned. "You're the one that's always chasing skirts, making you the one most likely to do something wrong."

"Hey, that was before I met you, remember?" Odd protested as he tried to lean over towards his girlfriend.

Sissi pushed him away. "So why is it that I still see your eyes wandering towards other girls?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Sissi folded her arms. "Yesterday, at lunch, when I was talking to you, I saw you stare as that brunette girl walked by. The day before that, when we were in line for the movies, you checked out the girl buying popcorn. The day before that, we went out shopping and a girl that was picking out a dress caught your attention."

Odd was speechless. He really did love Sissi but he couldn't help it if his mind wanted to focus on one girl but his eyes wanted to check out another one. "Um... old habits die hard?"

Sissi folded her arms. "And why is it you sometimes go running off with your friends when we're in the middle of something or show up late to our dates?"

Odd thought about this for a while. After several months, he still didn't tell her about Lyoko and the fighting he does there. Part of the reason was because he made an oath with the other Lyoko warriors not to reveal the secret to anyone. The other part of the reason was because he didn't want her getting involved in his battles to save the world or getting hurt in the process. "Well, stuff comes up with them sometimes. But I can assure you, Odd Della Robbia is a one-woman man and right now, that woman is you."

"I'll be watching you," she grunted as Odd could only give a sheepish grin.

One row behind on the other side of the bus, Jeremie looked at the couple and shook his head a bit. He was glad that he never had a quarrel with Aelita during the whole time they were together. So far, the relationship was perfect and he had every intention of keeping it that way. He turned to look at Aelita only to discover that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He smiled, noting that she always had a radiant beauty about her even when she's sleeping. Jeremie thought that a short nap was a good idea and took one, leaning his head against that of his girlfriend.

One row behind them, on the same side of the bus as Odd and Sissi, both Yumi and Ulrich looked at their friends as they both fell asleep.

"Hey, Ulrich," Yumi asked, "why do Aelita and Jeremie look so cute together?"

"Probably because they were practically made for each other," he answered. "I mean, ever since he finally broke down and told her how he feels, Jeremie has been nothing but smiles. Now they're practically inseparable."

"Kinda like us?" she asked as she took his hand and squeezed it in hers.

Ulrich returned the sentiment. "After I got over William's return, yeah." He turned back to see William staring out the window. William smiled as he was the scenery pass by. He could barely remember his time spent in Lyoko when he was under XANA's control. After his rescue, everything he was used to seeing, touching and sensing became new to him again. This was the first time since that rescue that he would see a forest that was real instead of artificial and he was planning to make the most out of this reborn opportunity.

The bus came to a stop on a wide open expanse of land. Jim stepped out of the bus once the door opened and took in a deep breath of fresh mountain air. He gave the word for all of the students to file out of the bus before proceeding to open the side compartment of the bus to unpack the gear.

The students got out of the bus and were amazed at the sight before them. The campsite was located on the side of the mountain and filled with dark green grass and a pit surrounded by rocks, ready for a good campfire. The trees that bordered the campsite and the main road were tall and sturdy, most of them older than Jim himself. The sounds of birds chirping filled the sky while a light breeze blew through the area. For nature lovers, this was paradise.

"You got everything you need?" the bus driver asked.

Jim gave the driver a thumbs-up signal. "All set. See you in two days." The driver nodded as he closed the door and headed off for the nearest gas station. Jim turned his attention to the kids. "All right, everyone, welcome to my Wilderness Survival course. Now, first thing we need to do is establish some shelter." He pointed to a pile of tents stacked next to the students' belongings. "Let's start by setting up some tents." With that, everyone picked up a tent and began their work.

The bus driver drove down the mountain roadside looking a gas station before heading for the nearest town for some shelter and food. As he drove, he noticed a spark in the middle of the road. He slowed down his speed and proceeded forward to discover that the spark came from a downed power line. He put the bus to a complete stop and got out, heading for the back of the bus. As a bus driver, he had seen this happen before and knew just how to safely handle the situation. He walked towards the downed line wearing rubber gloves and wielding a long plastic fork to move the line aside. As he came closer, he noticed that the behavior of the line changed from dancing wildly in the street to moving towards him. Before he could react, a bolt of electricity shot out from the wire to the bus driver, knocking him unconscious instantly. Moments later, he got up from the road, seemingly unharmed. His eyes told a different story, however, as his pupils were replaced with XANA's symbol. With his spirit laying dormant and his body possessed, the bus driver calmly walked towards the van and drove over the now dead wire. He drove further until he reached a nearby power plant a few miles away from the campsite. Finding the plant abandoned and the gate locked, he drove the bus through the gate and stopped right in front of the entrance. Breaking the lock for the door, the driver entered the facility and quickly found the main power switch. He flicked the switch, giving life back to a power plant that had not seen any operation for years. Once this task was completed, a bolt of electricity jumped from the driver's body to the power plant control switch. As the bus driver lay unconscious on the floor, the monitors all turned on and displayed XANA's symbol.


	3. A Full Moon

The first day of the Wilderness Survival course was filled with activity. After setting up their tents, Jim showed the students the tools they would need for the weekend as well as their proper usage. He then took the students for a short hike through the woods where he amazed them with his knowledge of certain plants in the area and how to identify which ones were edible and which ones to stay away from. Towards the afternoon, he showed them how to catch fish in a nearby stream and where to get the freshest water from that same stream. As night fell, he taught the students how to start a fire and make delicious meals from the goods they collected earlier in the day.

A full moon shone brightly over the campsite. The campfire was doused long ago and Jim, along with the rest of the students, were sound asleep in their individual tents. Jeremy and Aelita, however, were wide awake and lying down in Jeremie's tent, looking at the stars. Since the lights of the city always seemed to drown out the stars, the lack of civilization provided no competition for the celestial bodies to shine.

"It's amazing," Aelita said and she stared up into space. "I can't remember the last time I saw such a beautiful display in the sky."

Jeremie nodded. "You're lucky, then. Being a city kid, I've never even been able to see this many stars." He turned to face her. "And after meeting you, nothing else will ever be as beautiful."

Aelita turned to him and laughed. "Jeremy Belpois, that is the cheesiest line I have ever heard you use on me!"

Jeremie's face turned red as he stammered, looking for a way to back out of this embarrassing predicament. "Um, well I..."

She brought her hand to the side of his face and smiled. "I didn't say I hated it."

Jeremie grinned, relieved that she wasn't turned off by what he said. He leaned over and prepared to kiss her.

Aelita grabbed the back of Jeremie's head and pulled him closer to her. She was on the verge of touching his lips when she noticed something strange. "What is that?" she asked.

Jeremie took a moment to shake himself back to reality once he realized that he wasn't going to get that kiss. He turned to the direction Aelita was pointing at and saw a light coming from the side of the mountain. "That's strange," he said as he adjusted his glasses. "I thought that this mountain was uninhabited."

"That's what Jim told us," Aelita said as she stood up. "C'mon, let's go check it out."

"But, Aelita..." Jeremie called out a moment too late. She was already headed to the forest to investigate the source of the light. Not wanting her to go alone, he got up and followed her.

Ulrich got up once he heard some footsteps pass by his tent. He normally wasn't a light sleeper but he was having some trouble getting to sleep. He took a peek out of his tent to see Aelita walk towards the forest followed closely by Jeremie. He waited a while before leaving his tent and decided to follow the duo. He suspected that something was wrong but didn't let them know he was following in case they left to do something different. He looked around to ensure that no one else was awake to see what he was up to and follow him as well. He saw that Yumi was asleep like everyone else. Since he knew that she wasn't one to take kindly to being woken up in the middle of the night, he left her alone. He also saw that Odd was too busy making out with Sissi in her tent to notice anything else. With the coast being clear, Ulrich decided to see just where Jeremie and Aelita were headed to.

Jeremie caught up with Aelita and soon the both of them were going through the forest, heading to the source of the light. As they cleared the forest, Aelita stopped dead in her tracks when she saw where the light was coming from. "What's wrong?" Jeremie asked.

Aelita remained standing in place not saying a word. In front of her was a two-story mountain cabin that was fully illuminated. Suddenly a flood of images and memories rushed through her head. Waldo Franz Schaeffer. Her mother, Antea Hopper. Mr. Puck. Snow. Men in black. Wolves. Christmas. A fleeing car. The thoughts all overwhelmed her as her eyes began to roll back, causing her to collapse on the spot.

"AELITA!" Jeremie shouted as he saw her begin to collapse. He caught her just before she hit the ground and lay her gently on the ground.

Ulrich arrived at the scene to see the aftermath. "What happened here?"

Jeremie wondered where Ulrich came from but decided that this wasn't the right time to ask. "I'm not sure," he said. "One minute she was standing here and the next she collapsed."

Ulrich bent down near Aelita. "Help me get her on my back. We'll see if anyone in that cabin can help us." Jeremie grabbed Aelita's arms and draped them over Ulrich's shoulders. After grabbing her legs, Ulrich carried her towards the cabin while Jeremie took point. Once they got to the structure, Jeremie knocked on the door and waited for a response. He tried again when nothing had happened. A few minutes after he knocked on the door a second time, he turned the knob to find it unlocked.

"Hello?" he called out as he opened the door and peeked inside. When it turned out no one was there to answer, he opened the door wide and had Ulrich place Aelita on a nearby couch.

Aelita opened her eyes slowly. Her vision started out blurry but cleared gradually. She saw that Jeremie was looking at her with concern while Ulrich had just returned with a fresh wet towel.

"Are you OK?" Jeremie asked as he took the towel and wiped down her face with it.

Aelita sat up slowly. "I'm fine. I just..." She stopped as she took a look at her surroundings.

"Aelita?" Ulrich called out.

She shook herself back to reality. "I know this place," she said as she stood up slowly. Her head swiveled, scanning the room. "This... this is my house."


	4. Open House

Ulrich and Jeremie looked at each other in surprise. "What?"

Aelita scanned the room again, making sure that her assumption was correct. "This was the house my parents lived in for the winter months." She spun around the room and giggled. "I can't believe I'm home again."

Ulrich folded his arms and grinned. "Well, how about that? This trip just got more interesting."

Aelita pointed to a corner of the room. "That was where we mom placed the Christmas tree. I remember getting Mr. Puck from under that tree and being so happy I forgot about my other presents. And my dad would play that piano over there." She walked towards the instrument and lifted the lid, tapping on a few of the keys.

"You know how to play the piano?" Jeremie asked.

Aelita shook her head. "I wish I did. Dad promised he would teach me but he never had the chance to." She closed the lid and ran over to Jeremie, taking his hand in hers. "C'mon, let me show you the rest of the house." Jeremie had no choice but to be pulled along. Ulrich took a step to follow along but realized that he could be playing the third wheel here. Instead, he sat back down on the couch, waiting for the two lovebirds to come back from the private tour.

The duo walked upstairs after taking a small tour of the ground floor. So far, the house looked just like any other house. The dining room and kitchen were sizable, though the refrigerator and pantry were barren of food. The living room had an average size television with a basic stereo system. The furniture had an acceptable amount of dust coating it but it still looked like it was bought recently. As they walked upstairs, Jeremie noticed the family pictures adorning the wall. He saw individual pictures of Waldo Franz Schaeffer, Antea Hopper Schaeffer, Aelita and one last picture of them all together as a family, cementing the idea that she was an only child.

Aelita opened the door to a room and let Jeremie go inside. The room was a deep yellow in color. One side of the room had a single bed with a pink bedspread and a pink teddy bear in front of a pillow. The other side of the room had a chest of toys surrounded by a few stuffed animals. "This is my room," she said. "It's hard to believe that one little girl could have so many toys." She turned around and draped her arms over Jeremie's shoulders "You know, this is the first time I've had a boy in my room," she said grinning deviously.

Jeremie blushed. For a guy to be alone with a girl in her room was something of a rare occurrence. To have the knowledge that her parents would never be able to come in unexpectedly was an even rarer occurrence. "Well...I...um..." he stammered nervously.

Aelita laughed and touched the tip of his nose with her index finger. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try anything... yet." She led him out her room, the redness on his face now fading away.

"This is my parents' room," she said as she opened the door to the final room in the second floor. Jeremie looked around to see that the bedroom of a technical genius was the same as everyone else in the world. The queen size bed was adorned with clean white sheets. The nightstands were spartan in design, made of wood and lacking any sort of decorations. The walls had more family pictures taken before and after Aelita was born. Aelita walked towards a particular portrait hanging on the wall. The picture was one taken in front of the winter cabin right after a blanket of fresh snow had just fallen. Prof. Schaeffer was standing next to his wife who was showing herself to be very pregnant. Both of them were beaming. Aelita placed her hand on the picture of her father and sighed.

Jeremie walked up behind her and clutched her waist. "Don't worry, we'll find a way to get him back."

Aelita took her hand off the picture but still looked at it. "I know, but I still miss him being around."

Jeremie clutched her tighter. "If I could get you out of Lyoko, I can get him out. It's just a matter of time."

Aelita leaned back against him. For just a few moments, she could feel some comfort knowing that her boyfriend would not rest until the task at hand was done.

Ulrich stood up from the couch and stretched. Even though the cabin was fairly sizable, he thought that the tour of the house was taking a bit longer than usual. He decided to take his own tour of the cabin to pass some time. As he went down the hallway of the ground floor, he looked at the various portraits of nature hanging on the wall. Along with black and white portraits of lakes, trees and sky, he noticed that one of the portraits was blank. He scratched his chin and, out of curiosity, he touched the blank picture. Upon receiving human interaction, the blank picture lit up to reveal a display with numerous lines of code lowing in the background. Ulrich touched the picture again and a virtual keyboard appeared along with a text box prompt. Inside of the text box was the word "Code:" followed by a blinking cursor. "Hey, guys," he called out. "You might want to see this."

The sound of footsteps resonated throughout the cabin as Aelita and Jeremie ran downstairs. They both stopped and were prepared to ask questions when they noticed that Ulrich had not turned his attention away from the picture frame. The duo turned to see the display on the wall and the prompt for a code word.

"So, now what?" Jeremie asked. Both he and Ulrich turned their attention to Aelita, who was already in deep thought.

"I don't remember my father ever putting this in" she said. "I wonder if..." She began to type out the word 'LYOKO' on screen. After hitting enter, the display changed to a crimson red color with the following message displayed:

ACCESS DENIED. ATTEMPT 1 OF 3. TOUCH SCREEN TO TRY AGAIN.

"Attempt 1 of 3?" Ulrich asked. "So what'll happen if we can't get the code word after two more tries."

Jeremie placed his thumb and index finger on his chin. "Don't know. Best case scenario, we can't uncover the secret of this monitor. Worst case scenario, if Prof. Schaeffer thought the same way I did, I would make sure someone would pay for trying to uncover my secrets."

"Thanks a lot, Jeremie," Aelita said with spite. As if trying to guess the correct code word was bad enough, the idea that she and her friends could get hurt, or worse, made her even more nervous. She touched the screen and typed out the word 'XANA' on the virtual keyboard.

ACCESS DENIED. ATTEMPT 2 OF 3. TOUCH SCREEN TO TRY AGAIN.

Aelita grunted. She was one mistake away from uncovering just what penalty her father had devised for those wanting to get into his secrets. She leaned on the wall behind her and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on what the code word would be. She ran the gamut of common hints people use for passwords. Family names. Favorite foods. Book or movie references. After some time, Aelita opened her eyes. Feeling she had discovered the answer, she touched the screen and began to type out 'WHERE'S WALDO?'

The display changed to a dark shade of green as the phrase 'ACCESS GRANTED' flashed on-screen. A portion of the hallway wall began to recess before sliding away to the left. Lights turned on one by one to reveal a set of descending stairs.

"Good job, Aelita," Ulrich said, cheering on his friend for her accomplishment. "How'd you figure it out?"

Aelita smiled. "I remember my father saying that he hated that first name of his. He hated the books also so I took a wild guess and used it."

"Good guess," Jeremie chimed as all three of them began the descent. As the trio took one final step down the stairs, the lights to the basement flickered on to reveal something extraordinary. The basement housed a large metal cylinder with a sliding door in the front. Next to that was a larger monitor with a sizable control panel in front of it. A mainframe was located underneath the panel and surrounded by fields of wires and cables.

"Is that what I think it is?"Aelita asked.

"I think so," Jeremie responded. He walked over to the contraption and touched one of the keys. The monitor flickered to life and displayed things all too familiar to Jeremie. "Just as I thought," he exclaimed. "This is a prototype of the supercomputer back at the factory. That makes this cylinder a prototype scanner."

"Wow. I can't believe it," Aelita said. "All this time, my father made prototypes of the supercomputer right here under my nose."

Ulrich nodded. "So what do we do now?"

Jeremie looked at the screen. While the software installed on it was old, it was still very functional and it reported no signs of trouble on Lyoko just yet. "For now, we go back to camp in case people are looking for us. But first..." He pulled out a small USB device and hooked it up to the back of the computer.

"What's that for?" Ulrich asked.

"It's a wireless extender," he said. "I'm boosting my transmission range for my laptop so I can keep tabs on XANA and Lyoko."

"Wait, you brought your laptop with you?"

"Of course."

Ulrich shrugged his shoulders. "I should have known." With that, all three of them returned to camp before anyone would notice they were missing.


	5. Kankrelats and Kiwi2

The morning sun broke through the mountains to provide a sunrise worthy of a postcard. Jim got out of his tent as soon as the first ray of sunlight appeared. After taking in a deep breath of fresh mountain air, he went back into his tent and rummaged through his supplies. He emerged with a shiny brass bugle and began to play it... badly. The groaning of every student present was not enough to drown out the horrible sound of a musical instrument being desecrated. Once every student was out of their tents, Jim began to address them all.

"Rise and shine, everyone," he said. "Welcome to the start of a new day."

Odd yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Hey, Jim, where did you learn to play so badly?"

Jim beamed and placed his hands on his hips. "I got it from a drill instructor friend of mine in America. Of course, he could play this thing better than I could, but it still served it's purpose. Now, everyone get ready. We have a whole day of hiking ahead of us." Everyone groaned again as they prepared for the long day ahead.

Sissi got all of her equipment ready and headed over to the nearby stream. She bent down and scooped up a handful of water to wash up her face. As she looked up, she saw a patch of sunlight being reflected on the ground. The continued to look on and saw the patch suddenly move, as if the patch was actually something metallic that was reflecting the sunlight.

"What are you looking at?" Odd asked, just arriving at the scene.

Sissi turned to him. "Do you see that?"

"See what?" he asked.

Sissi turned around at the spot she was looking at before and saw nothing. There was no sign of reflected sunlight or anything moving on the ground except for wind-blown grass. "Never mind," she said as she walked back to the campsite.

The morning portion of the hike traversed newer areas of the mountain. Jim continued to display his knowledge of nature by describing the terrain being traversed and the plants that could be used for medicinal purposes here. By the middle of the day, hunger swept through the group. Jim had felt the same way.

"OK, everyone," he said, turning around to address the group, "Yesterday I taught you how to fish and look for edible plants. Now it's time to teach you how to hunt for game using traps you can make yourself."

Nikolas raised his hand. He began to speak once Jim acknowledged him. "Um, does this mean we're going to kill some animals?"

Jim nodded. "Of course. You don't think some animal is just going to magically turn itself into food, do you?"

Nikolas looked around. "But, um, what if some of us have some reservations about killing animals ourselves?"

Jim folded his arms. "Well, you didn't protest when you caught those fish yesterday, did you?" Nikolas shook his head. "Listen, this is a survival course. In order to survive in a wilderness, you have to eat and if eating means some animal has to go, then it has to go. Does anyone else have any concerns about hunting down an animal for some food?" The rest of the group remained silent.

"Alright, the first thing we have to do is find a young tree. Something strong yet flexible enough that it won't break." He led the group for about half a mile before he found what he thought was the perfect tree. He grabbed some rope from his backpack and tied it to the top of the tree. After completing the rest of the preparations, he turned around to address the group. "Now that we have the trap ready, all we have to do is either wait for the animal to come or lure the animal into the trap."

The sounds of the ground shifting and a tree snapping upright shot through the air. "Looks like it worked," Herve said.

"That it did," Jim noted. "Now let's see just what we caught." He turned around to find a very strange creature snapped up in his trap. The legs that were tied up in the rope were metallic and small, much like that of a bug. The body was brown, spiny and hard, much like that of a shell. The body was shaped like an eggplant turned upside-down and resting on a metal base. On what would be considered the front of the creature was three circles with one rectangle coming from the top of the outermost circle and three rectangles coming from the bottom of the same circle. "What in the world is this?" he asked himself as he tilted the creature up to get a closer look at it. He noted that the inner-most circle began to glow red.

"Look out!" Ulrich shouted as he knocked Jim away. At that moment, the kankrelat fired it's shot, hitting a nearby tree branch.

Jim looked at the creature and what had just happened. While he had never seen anything like it before, he wasn't going to wait around for it to attack again. "Alright, everyone, just remain calm and slowly back away from the creature." As he got up, he heard the sound of machines moving behind him. He turned around to see that a pack of kankrelats and mechanical dogs were closing in on them. Worse yet, there were more of them coming in from the horizon. "Everyone, RUN!"

After seeing what kind of creatures Jim saw, the students began to run away in the direction they were just coming from. Once Jim gave chase, the creature pack began to move as well. As the student body moved quickly through the woods, the kankrelats and Kiwi-2 clones began to increase in speed. Jim noticed this and knew he needed to stop them from reaching the kids. He reached inside his backpack and brought out his telescopic baton. He extended the weapon and turned around to catch a jumping Kiwi-2, sending it hurtling into a tree before shattering into pieces.

"Hey, Jim, where are we going?" Yumi asked.

Jim swung and hit another leaping Kiwi-2 before answering. "No idea, Ms. Ishiyama, but if you have anything in mind I'm all ears."

"There's a cabin about a mile and a half from here," Aelita shouted out. "If we can get there, we should be safe."

Jim dodged a stray laser shot from a kankrelat. "Lead the way, Ms. Stones."

In no time at all, the group reached the cabin in the mountains. Aelita opened the door and ushered everyone in. A few moments later, Jim arrived looking worse for wear. While he wasn't hurt much, his clothes had a few scorch marks as well as rips from mechanical teeth. Once everyone was inside, Aelita shut the door and locked it. Odd and Ulrich moved the couch to the door to act as a brace while Jeremie, Herve and Nikolas moved a refrigerator to brace the back door. "Everyone, head upstairs. These buggers can't jump too high so you should be safe there," Jim shouted as he tried to find material to cover the windows.

As the students made their way to the rooms on the upper floor, Jeremie pulled the Lyoko warriors aside. "What's XANA up to this time?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie shook his head. "No idea, but we gotta stop him before he makes things worse. Aelita and Ulrich, you two head to Lyoko and try to shut down whatever activated tower XANA might have there. Odd and Yumi, you two stay here and make sure everyone is safe. If we need backup, I'll contact you over the phone."

"Nice plan, Einstein," Odd said, "except I don't remember you packing a portable supercomputer and scanner on the trip."

"Actually," Aelita said, "there's a supercomputer and scanner here in the basement."

"And you know this because...?" Odd asked.

"Because this was my winter house," she grinned

Odd blinked twice before he hummed out the theme song for a popular sci-fi series. "Odd, get serious!" Ulrich snapped.

Odd grinned. "Sorry, not my fault the weirdness meter is escalating." With that, Yumi and Odd went back upstairs to join the rest of the students while the others headed for the basement.

"You sure this prototype scanner still works?" Ulrich asked as they reached the floor.

Jeremie began tapping on the keyboard, bringing up early versions of the software he was familiar with back at the factory. "Only one way to find out for sure," he said. A few seconds later, the metallic doors of the scanning pod opened.

Ulrich gulped upon seeing the contraption still in working order. He still wasn't sold on the idea that this old prototype could successfully transfer him to Lyoko. He placed one foot inside the scanner before stopping to turn to Jeremie. "So where am I headed to?" he asked.

The sector scanning software just finished working and produced a set of coordinates on-screen. "There's an activated tower on the western side of the ice sector," Jeremie said. "With only one scanner available, you're going to have to try and clear out the area before Aelita can jump in."

Ulrich sighed and shook his head. "Here goes nothing," he muttered as he entered the scanning pod. Once he was completely inside, the scanner doors immediately closed.


	6. Power Plant

Jeremie looked at the screen and was about to begin the scanning procedure when he noticed that the computer had automated the process. With no way to cancel the process, he sat there wondering if the procedure worked and if Ulrich was dropped off in the right place.

"Hey, Jeremie."

Aelita and Jeremie looked at each other, wondering if they both had heard the same thing.

"Einstein, you there?"

The voice was unmistakably that of Ulrich. Jeremie had noticed that there were a pair of speakers on the keyboard itself and had guessed that the voice was coming from there. Aelita found a microphone attached to the back of the computer and handed it off to Jeremie. "Ulrich, is that you?" he asked as he spoke into the mic.

"It's me," he answered. "Looks like the old thing worked. I'm here in the ice region near the tower."

"Excellent. Any activity near the tower?" he asked.

The speakers crackled for a bit before clearing up. "That's the weird part," Ulrich said. "The tower doesn't have a red glow to it and I don't see any of XANA's goons around. Are you sure you've got the right place?"

Jeremie scanned the area again. "Positive," he said. "According to the computer, this is the only active tower in the area. Wait there, I'll be sending Aelita over in a few minutes."

"You think XANA set something up in the real world again?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie opened his backpack, took out his laptop and began to set it up near the early supercomputer. "It's possible," he said as his laptop completed the boot-up sequence. "I'm going to sync up the laptop with this computer so I can get the skid up and running. Aelita, I'm going to need you to dock with the tower so I can get a scan and see if XANA did something on earth."

"Got it, Jeremie." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before hopping into the scanner. A few taps on the keyboard and a few moments later, the skid emerged from the digital sea and docked with the tower. "Docking complete," she relayed.

Jeremie increased the scanner range and found exactly what he was looking for. "Got it!" he exclaimed. "According to the scan, XANA's using the tower to access something on Earth. Ulrich, I'm translocating you and Aelita to Earth. Get ready." He opened up another program on his computer that gave him access to both his desktop back at his dorm and the supercomputer back in the factory. He began the process of having all four computer work in tandem to get the translocation process running as smoothly as possible.

Ulrich and Aelita prepared themselves for the journey back to Earth. Once they re-materialized, they looked around them and noticed that the area seemed all too familiar. "You there, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"Reading you loud and clear," he answered. "Where's XANA working at this time?"

Aelita answered. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you but it looks like the mountain where we're camping at."

Jeremie scratched his head. "Are you sure about that?"

"It has to be," Ulrich answered. "I mean, I see our bus here crashed on the... oh crap!" Both of them rushed down to the power plant. When they got there, they saw that the gate to the power plant had been crushed and the bus slammed into a brick wall. They both looked inside and saw that no one was there.

"You think the bus driver could be inside the plant?" Ulrich asked as he checked out the front seats of the bus.

Aelita checked out the back of the bus but found no one there. "Could be. I hope he's still alive in there."

Both of them exited the vehicle and made their way towards the building inside the power plant. As they walked forward, the sound of moving metal and gears was heard in the distance. Ulrich stopped moving and gave a hand signal for Aelita to stop as well. "You hear that?" he asked.

Aelita concentrated and heard the sound grow louder by the second. "It's coming closer," she said as she charged up an energy ball, ready to strike whatever was coming their way. As the sound grew louder, she turned to see a horde of Kiwi-2 bots accompanied by a few kankrelats heading towards them at top speed. "Targets coming at 8 o'clock!" she shouted, firing off her energy ball towards them. The projectile hit the pack and a few of the bots flew away due to the force of the impact. Before the smoke cleared, however, the horde was still pressing forward.

Ulrich brandished his swords and braced for the attack. "Time to get airborne, Aelita," he said.

"Way ahead of you," she answered. With a wave of the hand over her bracelet, she sprouted wings and began to take flight. She flew a few feet off the ground before a kankrelat noticed and fired off a few laser blasts. While Aelita dodged the first two shots, the last shot hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her back to the ground. Before she could recover, the mass of Kiwi-2 robots descended upon her.

"AELITA!" Ulrich shouted as he ran over to his fallen comrade. However, he was too late. He watched in horror as the mechanical creatures ravaged her like a hungry pack of wolves that had scored a fresh kill. As they attacked, digital code evaporated into the air, leaving no trace of her body behind when they finished. Ulrich's anger grew upon seeing the sight. "Triplicate!" he called out, summoning forth two of his clones. As they twirled their swords, all three versions of Ulrich rushed towards the robots.

Jeremie took his eyes away from the monitor and looked towards the scanner beside him. He knew that because she wasn't thrown into the digital sea, Aelita would return to Earth minus her Lyoko powers. To his surprise, the door for the scanner opened without anyone inside. Jeremie panicked. Did Aelita get lost in the network? Did she materialize somewhere in Lyoko instead? Was she gone forever? Before he could begin a search on the network, his phone rang. His fear had subsided when the caller ID screen showed that Aelita was on the other line. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"I'm at the factory," she answered. "Apparently, the scanner in the cabin only works one way. Thank goodness the system is smart enough to rematerialize me here."

"Indeed. Can you stand-by with the supercomputer?" Jeremie asked. "I have a feeling I'm going to need it soon."

"Roger that." With that, Aelita hung up the phone and took Jeremie's seat and headset in front of the supercomputer.

Jeremie turned his attention over to Ulrich. "How's it going over there?" he asked over the microphone.

A Kiwi-2 robot had just been skewered by one of Ulrich's katana blades. He looked around to see his clones fade away, their energy emptied out after a grueling battle with the robotic dogs. The young samurai shook his sword, tossing the machine into the pile of destroyed Kiwi-2 robots. "I'm good," he said, taking a deep breath. "I think I took care of all the goons here in the plant." As he prepared to sheathe his swords, Ulrich heard the familiar sound of metal and gears coming his away. This time the sound was deeper and louder indicating to him that the horde this time around would be numerous and harder to deal with. "Looks like I spoke too soon. Jeremie, I could use some help here."

"I'll get Odd and Yumi there ASAP." Jeremie switched channels to get in contact with the factory. "Aelita, I need you to divert some processing power to my laptop. I need to try out this program to translocate everyone to Ulrich's position quickly."

Aelita tapped away at the keyboard and found the program used to sync the various computers together. With a few more keystrokes, she was able to tap into a few of Lyoko's towers and send power over to the laptop in the cabin. "You've got power, Jeremie," she relayed over the headset.

"Thanks for that," he responded. He whipped out his phone and began to call Yumi.


	7. Tagging Along

Yumi looked downstairs and saw that Jim was still there, ready to strike in case the door wasn't going to hold back the creatures. She turned her attention to the rooms upstairs, making sure that all of the other students were safe.

"How's Jim doing?" Odd asked as he helped to make the rounds as well.

"He's good," she answered. "Looks like the kankrelats and Kiwi-2 bots have stopped attacking for now."

Sissi emerged from Aelita's bedroom with a look of concern on her face. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Everything's fine," Odd answered, "but why did you come out here? You should be with everyone else hiding for safety."

"I can't," she responded. "Not with me knowing you're out here." She ran over to Odd and grabbed his hands in hers.

Odd looked into Sissi's eyes. "Look, I'll be OK. I've done this thing before. Just promise me you'll get back to a safe room so I'll have someone to come back to when this is over." He squeezed her hands, causing her to break out a smile.

Yumi closed her eyes and shook he head. Just then her phone rang. Sensing that it was Jeremie, she picked it up immediately. "What's going on, Jeremie?"

"Ulrich needs help," he answered. "He's at a power plant getting flooded with kankrelats and Kiwi-2 robots."

"What happened to Aelita?"

"She got devirtualized. She's back at the factory now helping via the supercomputer."

"Alright, we're on our way." Yumi hung up the phone and looked at Odd. "We have to move. Ulrich's in trouble."

Odd nodded and looked at Sissi. "I'll be right back."

"I'm coming with you," Sissi declared.

"What?" Odd asked in surprise. "But I thought I asked you to stay safe?"

"You did," she answered, "but I'll be safest if I'm around you."

Odd looked up at the ceiling with a pained look on his face. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Sissi scowled at her boyfriend. "I am not kidding you! Look, we've got these weird creatures keeping us barricaded in a cabin in the middle of a mountain. I haven't seen Aelita, Jeremie or Ulrich anywhere since we got here. Now Yumi gets a call saying Ulrich is in trouble and Aelita is suddenly in a factory and you have to run off somewhere. Just what is going on, Odd?"

Odd carried a look of frustration on his face. He couldn't lie to her but couldn't tel her the real details of the situation either. "You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"Then help me understand!" she screamed out. "Our relationship is based on trust and right now I need to trust you to tell me the truth."

"Would you two..." Yumi shouted before the sound of breaking glass interrupted her. All three teenagers looked downstairs to see broken glass on the floor as well as some boxes scattered about. They also saw one Kiwi-2 bot scanning the room before stopping at Jim.

The physical education teacher extended his baton. "Come on, you robot war reject!" he shouted as he beckoned the robot to come after him. The robot barked and, at that moment, a laser blast shot through the door, missing Jim by several feet. He ducked to avoid the surprise blast, giving the robot the advantage it needed. With a quick burst of speed, the robot lunged at Jim and clamped on to his arm, piercing through Jim's jacket and his skin.

"Jim!" Yumi shouted as she flew downstairs. As if by instinct, she grabbed a nearby floor lamp and swatted away the attacking machine. "Are you alright, sir?"

The gym teacher grabbed his forearm and winced in pain as he added pressure to his wound. "I'll be fine. I've had worse." Jim proceeded to tear off his jacket sleeve and use it as a makeshift bandage to wrap up the bite. At that moment, the sounds of glass windows breaking filled the air as more Kiwi-2 bots found a way to enter the cabin. "Looks like those things learned how to jump after all," he quipped as he prepared to strike with his baton.

Yumi yanked the electric cord free from the lamp, transforming the piece of furniture into a makeshift staff with a weight on one end and a bulb of glass shards on the other. "You have to go, Odd!" she shouted. "I have to stay here and help out Jim."

Odd nodded. He took one step forward before stopping to look at Sissi. "Do you still trust me?" he asked.

She nodded in reply.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded again.

Odd grabbed Sissi's hand and led her downstairs. Once they were on the ground floor, the couple dashed for the hallway while Jim and Yumi began to rush forward to meet their invaders head-on. They both entered the hallway and quickly found the door leading to the basement. As Sissi stood there nervously looking at the impending battle between the Kiwi-2 bots and Yumi & Jim, Odd whipped out his phone and dialed up Jeremie. "Password?"

"'Where's Waldo?'" he answered.

"In the Empire State Building," Odd quipped. "Seriously, what's the password?"

"That was the password," Jeremie said.

Odd found the touch screen keypad and entered the password, opening the secret door. Once it opened, he grabbed Sissi's hand and led her to the basement before she could get hurt. While they had never seen the basement before, Odd knew that Jeremie would be ready for them when they got to the bottom of the stairs. "What's the situation. Einstein?"

Jeremie kept his face glued to the monitor. "I need you and Yumi to enter the scanner separately and help out Ulrich," he said. "He's got a flood of Kiwi-2 bots to deal with and..." He stopped as he finally left the gaze of the monitor and see who else was in the room with him. When he realized that it was Sissi in the room and not Yumi, he turned his attention to Odd. "What's she doing here?" Jeremie asked.

"Well," Odd responded, "Ulrich needs help right?"

"Yeah, but..."

Odd interrupted. "But Yumi is busy helping Jim defend the other students. So either we go help out Ulrich together or I go alone and he'll be shorthanded."

Jeremie shook his head. "Need I remind you of two things, Odd? First, Lyoko and everything about it is supposed to be a secret. We all agreed that we would discuss it amongst ourselves first before agreeing to reveal the secret to anyone else."

"Not my fault," Odd said, shrugging his shoulders. "I couldn't stop Sissi from coming along. Call it a 'spur of the moment' thing."

Jeremie continued with his countdown. "And two, I've never done a proper primary scan with her before. I mean, you remember what happened when you decided to let Kiwi tag along to Lyoko. Who knows what could happen to her if she gets scanned."

"Look, she'll be fine," Odd assured him. "We went through the scanner and we turned out OK."

As both boys argued, Sissi took the time to look around the basement. What she saw looked like a set straight out of a horror film or sci-fi movie. The basement itself was barely lit with the exception of a pair of flourescent lights that flickered every few minutes. There was a large monitor hanging on a wall with lines of code plastered all over it. In front of that was a computer and control panel that was caked in enough dust that the color was transformed from black to grey. Next to that was a large metal cylinder with lights situated at the bottom and top of the interior. The lights pulsated softly which intrigued Sissi. She peered inside and felt the warmth of the lights envelop her face. As she stepped inside the contraption, the doors shut behind her, trapping her in.

"What was that?" Jeremie asked as he heard the sound of metal clanking. The boys looked around to see nothing unusual except for the scanner door being closed. They both looked at each other and realized what had just happened. Odd ran to the closed scanner while Jeremie headed for the computer.

"Are you OK in there, Sissi?" Odd asked as he pressed his ear to the closed metal door.

Sissi's voice came out muffled. "I think so, but can someone get me out of here?" she asked.

"Um, don't worry," Odd assured her, "Jeremie will get you out of there in no time." He looked at the boy genius for an update.

Jeremie felt Odd's gaze upon him. "I can't seem to override the system to open the scanner doors," he said. Just then the familiar sound of the scanner powering up began to echo through the room.

"What's going on?" Sissi asked. "Suddenly, there's a gust of wind in here and a ring of light passing around me.

Jeremie looked back at the computer screen and saw that the scanning and virtualization process had automatically begun. He tapped on a few keys but nothing seemed to stop the process. He picked up the headset to call Aelita. "Aelita, can you override the scanning process from there?"

"Negative, Jeremie," she responded over the headset. "Why, what's happening?"

Jeremie sighed. "Sissi's getting virtualized into Lyoko right now?"

"What?" she exclaimed in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"Long story," he responded. At that moment, the scanner went quiet, indicating that the process had been finished. As the scanner doors opened, Jeremie looked at Odd. "Well, you got your wish. Sissi will materialize in Lyoko shortly before translocating to Ulrich's coordinates"

Odd shook his head. "Sort of," he responded. "It would have been better if I had prepared her for this beforehand." He stepped into the scanner as Jeremie prepared for another scan to Lyoko. "I wonder what she looks like in the virtual world," Odd asked himself before the scanner doors closed.


	8. Sissi's First Time

Sissi opened her eyes as she began to fall a short distance to the ground. Like all individuals that get virtualized for the first time, she landed on her chest with a thump. She pushed herself off of the ground and shook her head when she began to notice something peculiar about herself. Sissi looked at her hands which had somehow become enlarged and colored golden brown. Her fingers had all become stubby and her palms and fingertips were softer than before and colored dark brown. She looked at her arms and saw that she seemed to be wearing spandex in a color similar to that of her hands that covered her all of her body. "What happened to me?" she asked herself. Just then the sound of a sword cutting through metal awakened her from her trance. Sissi yelped as she realized that she was in a power plant surrounded by broken pieces of machinery, some of which were still twitching with electrical life. She also saw that there was a man in front of her wearing a brown headband and a yellow and brown outfit. He held a sword in each hand that dripped machine oil from the middle of the blade to the tip.

"Thank goodness you showed up, Yumi," Ulrich said. "These bots are killing me and I need all the help I can get."

"Ulrich... is that you?" she asked.

Ulrich grunted in disbelief as he sliced open another Kiwi-2 bot. "You're kidding, right?" He turned around to see a girl in a golden brown suit with similarly colored paws and golden brown ears protruding from the top of her head. "Sissi," he asked, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, I..."

Ulrich turned around to slice another bot before interrupting Sissi. "No time for explanations. Just help me get rid of this wave of bots so we can move forward into the power plant."

Sissi searched around her person. Unlike Ulrich, she had not come equipped with weapons of any sort. "Um, how do I do that?" she asked. A laser arrow suddenly sped by her face and landed on a kankrelat poised to shoot. Sissi turned around to see Odd clad in all purple firing arrows from both of his wrists.

"Let me help out," he said as he continued to fire arrows at the opposition. Within a few minutes of blades slashing through the air and shots fired from all directions, the metal horde of Kiwi-2 bots and kankrelats were reduced to scrap metal and digital ash. Once the coast was deemed clear, Ulrich sheathed his swords while Odd pecked Sissi on the cheek. "So, you having fun yet?" he asked.

"Odd, what is happening here?" she asked her boyfriend. "One minute I'm in a dingy old basement running away from mechanized dogs. The next minute, I'm here in a power plant watching you and Ulrich cut through bunches of these things like pros. What's going on and why are both of you wearing funny costumes?"

Odd sighed. "It's a really long story... and it's time I owe you an explanation for all of this."

"I hate to be rude," Ulrich said, "but can you explain everything to her while moving? We need to find a way to stop XANA and hopefully find out if the bus driver is still alive."

Both of them nodded as they joined Ulrich. As they made their way into the power plant, Odd proceeded to tell Sissi a truncated version of Lyoko, XANA and how they all changed from ordinary students to saviors of the world.

"And that's how come I run off on you every now and then," Odd said as the group approached the entrance to the power plant building.

Sissi nodded. "So that's how you guys get all the weapons and costumes."

Odd nodded in agreement. "That's why Ulrich has two katanas to go with his warrior outfit, I get laser arrows to go with my cat outfit and you get a bear outfit, though we don't know what your weapon of choice is just yet."

"A bear?" she asked. It would explain the large hands but she couldn't see how anyone else viewed her costume as that of a bear.

"See for yourself," Ulrich said as he unsheathed both of his swords and put them together to create a makeshift mirror. Sissi looked at the reflection on the swords and saw that she had curved ears coming from the top of her head. While that surprised her, she was even more surprised when she touched them and felt the touch through her ear. Ulrich sheathed his swords again. "C'mon, let's head inside before a new pack of bots arrive," he said as he opened the door to the plant.

The interior of the plant was unlike anything any of them had imagined. Instead of being a clean and organized building, the facility was a maze of hallways and rooms. Light cobwebs and other debris littered the floors while the pictures on the wall and the monitors were all covered with dust. All of the signs and maps had been faded away thanks to time and neglect. Ulrich cupped his right ear. "Jeremie, got any hints for us here?" he asked. "This place is practically a labyrinth."

"Give me a second," he responded. "I'm trying to pull up a map for you now." He tapped a few keys on the keyboard to initiate a map scanning program. After the Enter key was hit, however, the monitor went black. Scratching his head, Jeremie hit a few more keys to see if that would fix the problem. Nothing happened. "Stupid piece of..." he muttered as he got up from his chair and gave the terminal a swift kick. Suddenly the monitor came back to life complete with a map scan. He sighed at what was displayed before relaying the information back to Ulrich. "You're not going to like this," he said.

"Why? What do you see?" he asked.

"That's just it," Jeremie answered. "I don't see much at all. The map scan program is only showing me a little bit more than the area you guys are standing in. I'll try to work on the program some more to see if I can get it to do a more complete scan but, for now, you guys are on your own."

"Great!" he said as he gritted his teeth. Ulrich took his hand away from his ear and sighed as he turned to the group. "I don't suppose any of you guys know where to go around here?" Both Sissi and Odd shrugged their shoulders. "OK, we all split up. We'll be able to cover more ground that way." Ulrich cupped his ear again. "Jeremie, can your mapping program track us separately?" he asked as he took a few steps forward.

"Looks like it," he responded.

Ulrich smiled. "That settles it," he said. "I'll take the middle path. Odd, you pick a side while Sissi goes down the other."

Sissi raised her hand. "But how do I defend myself if those robots come after me?"

Ulrich grimaced. He completely forgot that she had no idea how to fight with her Lyoko powers. "Odd," he said, "looks like you'll have to give her a crash course." With that, he proceeded down the middle of the path.

Odd looked at Sissi's costume. He figured that since it was animal-like, just like his, she might have projectile based weaponry. "OK, put your fist forward and think about having an imaginary crossbow strapped to your wrist. Imagine that you want to fire the crossbow and it will happen," he instructed.

Sissi did as she was told. She stretched out her arm like she saw him do before. She closed her eyes and pretended a crossbow was attached to her wrist. She squeezed her eyes and, in her mind, saw an arrow shoot forth from her wrist. Sissi opened her eyes, hoping to see an arrow puncture a wall or break a window. Instead, she saw that nothing had happened.

Odd scratched his head. "Alright, that didn't work."

"Now what?" she asked.

Odd pointed to the left. "Let's go there and search the plant. You can keep trying along the way." Sissi nodded as she followed Odd.


	9. Birth of a Lioness

"Find anything, Ulrich?" Jeremie asked.

Ulrich entered another room. There were several documents lying on the floor as well as an overturned office chair but otherwise nothing of importance. "No sign of a bus driver or a main power switch."

Jeremie stroked his chin. "Well," he said, "thanks to you alone I have half of the power plant mapped out. Accordingly, I think Odd and Sissi are going to be able to find the switch. Go meet up with them to give you a hand. I'll give you directions." Ulrich nodded as he made his way towards his companions.

Odd and Sissi opened several rooms and found nothing. "You know," Odd said, "for a power plant this place sure has plenty of offices. Any luck getting those arrows to fire?"

Sissi was trying to shoot arrows from her wrists in between searching for a power switch. "Nothing yet," she responded. "I don't get how you can fire shots with ease while I'm coming up empty."

"Don't worry, it'll come to you at the right time," he reassured her. At that moment, he saw a stray Kiwi-2 bot hanging out in the hallway. "Hey, Sissi," he called out. "I think the right time has arrived." Sissi looked in the direction that Odd was facing and saw her target. She tensed up her body and pointed her arm at the bot who finally noticed her presence. "Concentrate," he encouraged.

"I've got this one," she said. Sissi tried to shoot the enemy but, like before, nothing happened. The bot, sensing that she was not a real threat, began to charge at her. Sissi panicked. "Now what?" she asked as she began to shake.

Odd stood beside her and stretched out his arm, preparing to strike. "Try again," he said. "I'll cover you in case anything goes wrong."

"But..." she protested as the bot came closer.

"Trust me, you can do this," he assured her.

Sissi calmed down a bit and began to focus on the charging Kiwi-2 bot. If her boyfriend believed in her, the least she could do was try one last time. As the bot leaped for her neck, she closed her eyes and imagined firing an arrow one last time. This time around, she heard the sound of metal piercing metal. When she opened her eyes, she found four metal blades protruding from each space between her fingers. Two of the blades in the middle pierced through the mouth of the robot straight to the posterior. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "I did it! Did you see that? I did it!" She looked to her side for approval and saw a face of terror pasted on Odd's face. While one set of claws successfully killed the robot, the other set of claws were pointed directly at Odd, the tips of the blades a few millimeters away from his face. Seeing how close she was to leaving a bad scar on his face, she pulled her hands away from him and dropped the Kiwi-2 bot. "Sorry," she said.

Odd began to regain his composure. "Well, I'm glad to see you found your weapon of choice," he said. "Now we know you have the persona of a bear."

Sissi looked at her hands with disbelief. "Come to think of it," she said, "bears are dark brown, not gold. I think I'm more of a lioness."

"Whatever you are, you still kicked butt," Odd said, making her blush.

"Hey, everyone," Ulrich called out as he caught up with the duo. He was surprised when he saw claws coming from Sissi's hands and even more surprised when he saw the destroyed Kiwi-2 bot near her feet. "Nice kill, lioness!"

Sissi turned to Odd and retracted her claws. "See, he knows his animals."

Odd shook his head as he cupped his ear. "Hey, Einstein, now where do we go?"

Jeremie tapped a few more keys to check on the parts of the facility that were already explored by Ulrich. From the looks of things, Odd and Sissi were definitely headed on the right path. "Go straight for a few more rooms," he instructed. "You should find something of interest ahead." With that, the trio proceeded further into the plant.


	10. Enter The Volkanoid

Ulrich pushed open the double doors as Sissi and Odd covered him from behind. What they all discovered beyond the doors was astounding. What was formerly a cafeteria had been transformed into a makeshift assembly line. Each of the tables held different mechanical parts that several crudely constructed robotic arms picked up. From there, the parts were placed on another table where another set of arms went to work assembling them together. Finally, the completed creation was taken to another table and injected with a battery, giving life to a XANA-infected Kiwi-2 bot.

"My poor little diggity-dog," Odd lamented, "being perverted from man's best friend to man's worst enemy."

"Hey," Jeremie protested over the microphone, "blame XANA for stealing my blueprints."

Ulrich unsheathed his swords. "Either way, we have a job to do."

Sissi unleashed her claws while Odd took aim at one of the mechanical arms. After a three count, all three Lyoko warriors went on the offensive. Before any of the arms knew what was going on, they were attacked. Whether by blade or by arrow, they each fell before they were able to mount a defense. Once the arms were destroyed, the group went after the newly-completed Kiwi-2 bots and their individual parts, ensuring that their construction would be put to an end.

"That was easy," Sissi said as she stomped on a still twitching bot.

"Why did you say that?" Odd asked. "You know that anytime someone says that in the movies something goes horribly, horribly wrong." At that moment, the group heard the sound of a large creature's footsteps coming towards the room. "Told you!" Odd shouted as he and the rest of the group faced the closed double-doors, preparing for the attack. Each one of them clenched their weapons tighter as the sound amplified. Just then, the wall opposite of the buffet line burst open, revealing a volkanoid flanked by two kankrelats.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Ulrich shouted. The bipedal monster was taller than the door, almost reaching the ceiling. It's skin was thicker than the other XANA creatures and had a large version of the symbol on it's front. The legs were short and stubby while the body was round and smooth in the front. The back of the creature was open and exposed the molten core of the being.

Odd shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe XANA was able to translocate this guy to the real world."

"So this is what you guys have to face everyday?" Sissi asked.

"Nah," Ulrich responded. "Sometimes they're taller. Hey, Odd, remember what we did last time. Sissi, help me provide a distraction while Odd tries to shoot it in the back. From there we can then attack the eye and kill it."

Both Odd and Sissi nodded as they went into position. Sissi grabbed a chair and threw it at the behemoth, causing it to fire at the ground in front of them. Both the lioness and the warrior scattered in opposite directions, causing the volkanoid to constantly switch focus between the two. One of the kankrelats decided to fire a shot, hoping to hit anything. Ulrich returned the shot with his sword, destroying the creature in the process.

While all of this was going on, Odd began his part of the attack. He scampered around the room, leaping off of walls and debris to get behind the creature as quickly as possible. He kicked a kankrelat before it was about to fire, knocking it down on the floor but not completely killing it. Finally, he was close to the molten core of the creature. He extended his arm and closed one eye in order to get the right aim for the perfect shot. "Stay on target. Stay on target," he told himself. Just as he was about to fire an immobilizing shot, Odd noticed that the core began to glow. He lowered his arm for a bit and opened both eyes to get a better view of just what was going on. The glow intensified and, at that moment, a large blast of fire shot through the back of the volkanoid. Odd was caught in the blast and got knocked back several meters until he slammed against a wall. Once the blast had subsided, he collapsed on the floor, his body still smoking from the heat.

"ODD!" Sissi shouted as she saw her boyfriend collapse from the attack. Until that moment, she never realized the kind of danger the group had to endure every time they would go off into the virtual world. Had she known about this before, especially when she chased after Ulrich in the past and when she decided to hook up with Odd, she would have tried to stop them from ever putting their lives on the line. Now that she saw for herself what they were fighting for, she understood what was at stake and what could happen to them when things go wrong. Sissi's fear for Odd's safety quickly manifested into rage when she saw that he wasn't getting up anytime soon. With a fire in her eyes and a low growl, she darted towards the volkanoid. She expertly dodged all of the creatures attacks as she rushed forward throwing objects towards the monster. As she dodged another fireball shot, she picked up the downed kankrelat before leaping at the volkanoid's body. Before the creature had any time to react, Sissi threw the body of the kankrelat into the molten core of the volkanoid, causing both a massive explosion and the collapse of the brute. She then mercilessly slashed and stabbed at the behemoth until it became nothing more than digital dust. As the particles faded away, Sissi stood with her claws extended, foaming at the mouth as she panted hard.

Odd groaned as he got up. While no real pain could be felt by their digital avatars, the knowledge of what it would feel like to get thrown into a wall still registered into his mind. When his head finally cleared, he saw his girlfriend transform from someone unfamiliar with her newfound powers to an animal thirsting for blood. "Um... Sissi?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

Sissi retracted her claws and wiped away the foam from her mouth. In the blink of an eye, she calmed down from her frenzied state. "Oh, I'm fine," she answered. "I'm just a little..." Before she could finish the sentence, she collapsed on the floor.

Both Odd an Ulrich ran over to her body. Before any of them could say anything, Jeremie spoke over their headsets.

"She's fine, guys" he assured them. "She just fainted due to the intense adrenaline rush. Sissi should be conscious again shortly."

Odd breathed a sigh of relief as he took Sissi in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "You did good, lioness. Thank you," he whispered. He looked at Ulrich, who had just finished sheathing his swords. "Now what?" he asked.

"You stay here and protect Sissi," he said. "Unless XANA has any other big surprises up his sleeve, I should have no more problems finding the bus driver and the override switch for the factory." As Ulrich began to walk away, he heard a low rumbling sound in the distance. Odd heard the noise as well; the sound of hundreds of tiny mechanical legs left no doubt in his mind that another batch of Kiwi-2 bots was headed their way. Both of them looked at each other before gathering the few unbroken tables together to create a makeshift fort. Once construction was complete, Odd took Sissi behind the fort walls while he extended each arm, one pointing to the broken double doors while the other pointed in the direction of the hole created by the volkanoid.

"Go!" Odd shouted. "I'll be alright."

Ulrich nodded before leaving to find the switch. He kicked open the other set of double doors in the cafeteria and traveled down the hallway. After a few rooms, Ulrich found a set of doors that were propped open. He opened them further to find a man lying face first on the floor. He ran into the room and turned him over to confirm that the man was indeed the bus driver they were looking for. Using a technique he learned in health class, he placed two fingers on the neck of the driver. The pulse he felt was faint, but he was glad to know that the driver was still alive. Ulrich stood up and looked forward to see a large control panel with several dials and graphs on them. The monitors in front of the panel all displayed the same thing: XANA's symbol. Ulrich cupped his ear to contact Jeremie. "Looks like I'm in the main control room," he told him.

"Excellent," Jeremie responded. "We need to find a way to overload the plant so that it shuts down for good."

"Wait a minute," Ulrich interrupted. "If we do an overload, doesn't that mean the whole plant will blow up?"

"That's the plan," Jeremie said. "Since you, Sissi and Odd are in a virtual state now, you'll all be fine."

"What about the bus driver here?" he asked.

There was a brief moment of silence before a word was spoken. "I got it!" Jeremie exclaimed. "I can have Aelita perform a 'return to the past' right as the plant begins to explode. It's going to be risky, but if we time it just right we can save the bus driver. You got all that, Aelita?"

Aelita opened a window that gave her a view of the scanning area. "Got it," she told him. "As soon as I see someone emerge from the scanners I'll hit the switch."

Jeremie contacted Ulrich one last time. "It's up to you now."

Ulrich took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," he muttered to himself as he turned every knob and dial he could find to the maximum level. The lights in the facility immediately turned red as a siren wailed all over the plant.

"Warning," said an automated feminine voice over the loudspeakers. "Five minutes until plant overload. Please evacuate the facility in an orderly fashion."

Ulrich ran out of the room and began to gather up his comrades. As he ran into the cafeteria, Sissi was still lying unconscious on the floor while Odd fired a shot at a Kiwi-2 bot, single-handedly destroying the tide that had come in earlier.

"That's the last of them," he said as he bent his arms to regain some feeling in them.

Ulrich nodded. "We gotta go. The plant is going to explode and we have to re-materialize so that Aelita can go a 'return to the past' before the bus driver gets killed."

"How much time do we have left?" Odd asked.

"Warning. Four minutes until plant overload," announced the automated voice.

"OK," Odd said, bothered by the fact that the voice seemed to know exactly when to answer his question. "Can you help me get Sissi onto my back?"

Ulrich picked up the unconscious girl from the ground and draped her arms on Odd's shoulders while he had him hold her legs. "She's kinda heavy," he commented.

"I thought so, too, at first," Odd replied, "but I got used to it after a while."

Ulrich shook his head. Now was not the time to decipher what his best friend meant by that remark. Both of them began their run towards the outside of the building. The group ran through several rooms and corridors, kicking aside corpses of Kiwi-2 bots along the way. Moments later, all of them made it outside.

"Now what?" Odd asked.

The PA system began to crackle to life. "Warning," said the female voice again. "One minute until plant overload."

"Thanks," Odd said to the voice.

Ulrich looked around and found what he was looking for. "Head for the transformers. We should get an explosion or electrical shock from there." The group ran to the middle of the transformer field. To help the process along, Ulrich unsheathed a sword and held it straight up into the air to act as a lightning rod. "Hold on tight!" he ordered as he sensed that the overload would happen very soon.

"Warning," the voice said for the last time. "Plant overload will occur in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1."

As the announcement ended. Bolts of electricity flew through the air and the sound of transformers exploding could already be heard. One of the bolts came into contact with Ulrich's sword, instantly draining all of the remaining hit points the group had, sending them back into the real world.

Aelita kept a close watch on the window displaying the scanner room. Moments later, she saw three doors open. Ulrich and Odd stepped out of their respective scanning pods while Sissi almost fell over, catching herself at the last minute. With everyone confirmed to be alright, Aelita hit the Enter key to begin the 'return to the past' process.

In the scanner room, Odd ran over to Sissi and helped her get on her feet again. "You OK?" he asked.

Sissi blinked twice and tried to get herself acclimated to the real world again. "I think so. Did we win?" Odd nodded. "That's nice," she said as she began to lean on his shoulder to rest.

Odd's head leaned against hers. "You think she'll remember all of this when we go back?"

Ulrich shrugged his shoulders. "No clue," he said. "But I guess we'll find out soon enough."

The white dome of time appeared in the factory and began to grow, encompassing everything it touched. Moments later, the dome touched the campsite and the forest. It then reached the cabin where a battered and bruised Jim and Yumi disposed of the last Kiwi-2 bot that terrorized the students. The dome hit the power plant, touching the bus driver before a fireball from the many explosions roared through the room. Before anyone could notice what was happening, the whole world was bathed in a white low as the program began to reverse time itself.


	11. Returned To The Past

Odd looked outside of the bus window watching all of the scenery pass by. He wasn't much of a nature fan, preferring the concrete jungle to a real one. However, with his friends in tow, he felt that the weekend could still be enjoyable enough.

Sissi sat by him, watching him watch the view. She shared the same viewpoint that he did and was glad she could just be there with him. "So, why did you go on this trip? I thought you were a big city kid at heart."

Odd continued looking out the window. "Yeah, but Jeremie wanted to go so that made Aelita want to go. Then, suddenly, Yumi and Ulrich wanted to go. I'm going to make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't be doing."

Sissi raised an eyebrow. "You? Are you sure you're talking about the right Odd Della Robbia?"

Odd turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

Sissi frowned. "You're the one that's always chasing skirts, making you the one most likely to do something wrong."

"Hey, that was before I met you, remember?" Odd protested as he tried to lean over towards his girlfriend.

Sissi pushed him away. "So why is it that I still see your eyes wandering towards other girls?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Sissi folded her arms. "Yesterday, at lunch, when I was talking to you, I saw you stare as that brunette girl walked by. The day before that, when we were in line for the movies, you checked out the girl buying popcorn. The day before that, we went out shopping and a girl that was picking out a dress caught your attention."

Odd was speechless. He really did love Sissi but he couldn't help it if his mind wanted to focus on one girl but his eyes wanted to check out another one. "Um... old habits die hard?"

Sissi folded her arms. "And why is it you sometimes go running off with your friends when we're in the middle of something or show up late to our dates?"

Odd thought about this for a while. After several months, he still didn't tell her about Lyoko and the fighting he does there. Part of the reason was because he made an oath with the other Lyoko warriors not to reveal the secret to anyone. The other part of the reason was because he didn't want her getting involved in his battles to save the world or getting hurt in the process. "Well, stuff comes up with them sometimes. But I can assure you, Odd Della Robbia is a one-woman man and right now, that woman is you."

"I'll be watching you," she grunted as Odd could only give a sheepish grin. There was a brief moment of silence before Odd decided to break it.

"Hey, Sissi?" he asked.

"What is it?" she answered.

"If I told you that I ran off with my friends because we do battle against an evil supercomputer in a virtual world and save the world at every opportunity, what would you say to that?"

Sissi looked at her boyfriend quizzically. She took her hand and placed it on his forehead then his neck. She then took her same hand and checked his scalp. "Well," she said, "you're not sick and you didn't hit your head or anything. If that's the story you would have told me, I'd tell you to make up a better one or use it for your next movie project."

Odd pressed further. "What if I told you that when you enter this world, you turn into a lioness with sharp metal claws?"

"Then I'd put you on a strict diet of romantic films to purge the sci-fi out of your system," she responded.

Odd sighed and turned his attention once again to the scenery. Unlike other people that went through the scanner, Sissi couldn't remember what had happened to her once a 'return to the past' occurred. While he was glad that she didn't have to endanger herself again, he was a bit saddened that he couldn't see her in lioness form again. "Maybe for Halloween..." he thought to himself.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

_Story #5 is now in the bag. Like "Writer's Block" and "All Hallow's Eve," this is a oneshot deal. In other words, if I still plan on the overall story arc still brewing in my head, this story would have nothing to do with it. Not much of an intro here so I'll just move into the notes._

_-Story Requests: In this respect, there are two types of fanfic authors: those that take story requests and those that don't. I mostly fall into the latter. I have ideas I came up with and the desire to put those ideas into a story format on the internet. I don't take story ideas from other people because my interpretation for how that idea should go and their ideal for how it should go could differ greatly. I know that I wouldn't like it if my idea wasn't written out as I had planned it and I feel the same would happen to those that send out ideas. However, a person by the name of _brave kid_ sent me this idea hours after "An Odd Couple" had just hit the net. After dealing with that rather long fic for weeks, this was a good time to go away from that arc of stories so that I can flesh out the attack plan better. Just to reiterate, I don't do this thing on a normal basis, if at all. I just felt that this one time could be fun._

_-Canon events and names: By the time this fic comes out, there will be a few important things revealed in the season. Most of these items of importance have already appeared in the French airings and have made their way to WikiPedia. To prepare for these things, you'll notice one big change in naming. The man we know as Franz Hopper has officially been revealed as Waldo Franz Schaeffer. So, no, this isn't a new character written for the fic but one from canon with a true name revealed. As a result, all four of my previous fics have received or will recieve corrections to reflect this fact as well as error fixes._

_-Volkanoid: The volkanoid is an enemy specifically created for the Wii video game. It seemed difficult to defeat at first but became easier and more prevalent as you went through the game. As for the game itself, it wasn't bad but you'd get framerate problems once you went to the volcano sector. By problems I mean the game would be on permanent slowdown until the level was beaten._

_-Variety: When I first decided I wanted to start writing Code Lyoko fics, I told myself that I should try writing in every possible genre so that I could have a better feel for how each one should be best written. This includes pacing, timing, etc. As this idea came about, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see if I can actually adapt a story, writing a fic that wasn't my original idea to begin with. I figured that if I could adapt a story idea from someone else, I could learn from the experience and improve myself in the process. Hopefully it worked._

_-Modification: Authors can often be found taking liberties with the source material they had available. These include things such as story setting, character changes and plot pieces. For the most part, I tried not to mess with the original idea too much but I did feel some things could use a change to fit better. For instance, the original idea called for XANA to recreate zones on Earth instead of just Lyoko. I'm not too sure on how I could do that without some major explanations. Instead, I opted for sending the gang to Lyoko first then to the real world so they can use their powers on Earth. Yes, a bit roundabout and long but it prevents a lengthy explanation from happening. Also, A small tweak to Sissi's Lyoko look. The original plan called for her uniform to be a cross between Aelita and Odd with claws as her weapon of choice. I liked the claws idea but felt that Lyoko destined for her to have a somewhat different look._

_And that's the end of that. If you've read my previous notes from my other fics you know the score. Flames are bad. Constructive criticism and reviews are good. And if you like the idea, throw a shout out down _brave kid'_s way._


End file.
